China’s new energy vehicle orders jumped 49% week-over-week and 17% year-over-year in the 17th week of the year, according to a Goldman Sachs research note published Wednesday morning.
The increase was driven almost entirely by Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) after several brands of the conglomerate launched new models at the Beijing Auto Show.
Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that HIMA, Nio, and Tesla led the order activity for the week, with HIMA recording the biggest growth.
The analysts mentioned Seres’ M6 model in both fully electric and extended range version and SAIC’s Z7T EV, plus the all electric sedan Z7.
The 568% sequential surge for HIMA marks the clearest data confirmation yet of the Huawei-backed alliance’s emergence as China’s most disruptive EV force, with the wave of new launches in the world’s largest auto show attracting consumers.
Tesla‘s essentially flat orders, by contrast, land as the company missed the Beijing Auto Show for a third consecutive edition, having last attended in 2018.
In a new social media post, the company led by Elon Musk announced earlier this Wednesday that it dropped the 7-year low-interest loan from its May purchasing incentives in China, maintaining only 5-year zero-interest financing plans.
The Data Void
For roughly two years, Beijing-based Li Auto published weekly insurance registration rankings every Tuesday morning, covering major Chinese EV brands and luxury makers.
The data was widely used by analysts and investors as a leading indicator for monthly delivery figures.
Li Auto started publishing the weekly figures at the end of March 2023.
The practice ended in March 2025, after the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) issued a recommendation calling on individual companies to stop publishing weekly sales charts, on the basis that the data “undermines industry order” and “fuels vicious competition.”
CAAM’s recommendation followed sustained pressure from rivals, most prominently Nio.
Co-founder and president Qin Lihong publicly criticized the practice at NioIN tech day in July 2024, and again at the Chengdu Auto Show in September, arguing that “the weekly data on mandatory insurance is not the sales data for each company. Publishing it is not encouraged or advocated under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.”
Nio‘s Assistant VP of Branding Ma Lin posted on Weibo in July 2024, calling the practice “low-level involution” and asking Li Auto founder Li Xiang directly to stop.
What HIMA Covers
HIMA, the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, currently comprises five brands, each a partnership between Huawei and different Chinese state-owned automakers.
Aito is the alliance’s most established brand, partnered with Seres Group, with the M5, M7, M8, and M9 SUVs in the lineup.
Luxeed is partnered with the state-owned Chery Group, with the S7 sedan, R7 SUV, and the just-launched V9 MPV.
Stelato is partnered with BAIC Group, with the S9 sedan and S9T touring variant.
Maextro is the ultra-luxury brand partnered with JAC Group, with the S800 luxury sedan starting at 708,000 yuan.
Shangjie, the newest HIMA brand added in September last year, is partnered with SAIC Motor, with the H5 SUV and the newly-launched Z7 and Z7T sedans driving the order surge captured in Goldman’s note.
HIMA’s Spring Launches
The order surge follows a sequence of HIMA launches concentrated in the days before and during the Beijing Auto Show.
Seres and Huawei opened pre-sales of the Aito M6 at 259,800 yuan ($38,000), positioned as a five-seat midsize SUV measuring 4,960 millimeters in length, available in both pure-electric and extended-range variants.
The Aito M9 facelift opened pre-sales at 499,800 yuan, with the M9 Ultimate Extended Edition teased at 669,800 yuan.
The M9 has totaled 280,000 units delivered since its 2023 launch, making it the cornerstone of HIMA’s premium positioning.
SAIC and Huawei’s Shangjie Z7 and Z7T, both intentionally priced at 219,800 yuan — exactly 100 yuan below the Xiaomi SU7 — debuted as the alliance’s mass-market sedan offering.
The Chery-backed Luxeed V9 MPV, HIMA’s first multi-purpose vehicle, opened pre-sales at 399,800 yuan with a triple-screen “Universe” cockpit, DLP intelligent projection headlights, and a 21.4-inch ceiling-mounted entertainment screen.
The JAC-backed Maextro S800 luxury sedan, already shipping at 708,000 yuan, has surpassed 16,000 cumulative deliveries by the end of March, having outsold the combined registrations of the Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-Benz S-Class between September 2025 and January 2026.
CPCA Headline Market Data
The Goldman note also incorporates the latest weekly data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), which paints a more complex picture for the broader market.
“As of Apr 1-19, PV retail volume was 627k units (-26% yoy/-18% mom), while PV wholesale volume was 756k units (-19% yoy/-16% mom) per CPCA,” the analysts wrote.
“Meanwhile, NEV retail volume was 387k units (-14% yoy/-5% mom), and NEV wholesale volume was 413k units (-17% yoy/-9% mom),” the note added.
While headline volumes contracted, the share of NEVs in the broader market jumped considerably.
“NEV penetration recovering to 61.7%/54.7% in Apr 1-19, compared to 47.3%/48.6% in Mar,” Goldman analysts wrote.
The 14.4-percentage-point retail jump and 6.1-point wholesale jump in NEV penetration in the space of a single month reflect both seasonal factors and the impact of the Beijing Auto Show launches concentrated in the second half of April.
Pricing and Battery Inputs
Goldman Sachs analysts framed the discount and battery-input picture as “Key pricing trends: Both NEV and ICE dealer discounts narrowed wow.”
The narrowing of dealer discounts in both segments — first observed in early April — suggests either tightening supply, easing competitive pressure, or both, after months of escalating price-war dynamics.
On battery inputs, the analysts wrote: “Upstream battery pricing dynamics: Battery grade lithium carbonate price is stable at Rmb170.5k/ton (+0.0% wow), while prismatic cell (LFP) increased by 4.5% wow.”
The 4.5% week-over-week increase in prismatic LFP cell prices is the first significant move in cell pricing in several weeks, and follows BYD‘s decision earlier this week to raise the price of its God’s Eye B driver-assistance package by 21%, citing rising global storage hardware costs.
Goldman’s Bottom Line
The Goldman analysts summarized the week’s takeaway tightly.
“Bottom line: Weekly NEV orders +49% wow/+17% yoy driven by HIMA new model launches. Both NEV and ICE dealer discounts narrowed wow. Battery grade lithium carbonate price is stable at Rmb170.5k/ton (+0.0% wow), while prismatic cell (LFP) increased by 4.5% wow,” the analysts wrote.
The bank’s note arrives as Beijing Auto Show — running through May 3 — continues to drive the news cycle, with Rivian reporting first quarter results on Thursday and additional Chinese automakers expected to release April delivery figures in early May.
